A man with a history of bad driving was sentenced Friday to a maximum term of 10 years in prison for driving drunk, running a red light and killing a veteran Colorado Department of Natural Resources employee.

Denver District Judge William Robbins told Chase Miller, 31, that he had no other choice but to impose the maximum, given Miller’s propensity to not only drink and drive, but to drive recklessly.

“You are a danger on the road, an habitual traffic offender,” Robbins told Miller in a packed courtroom filled with the friends of Rich ard Cooper, who died on April 25, 2005, the day after he celebrated his 58th birthday.

The judge noted that Miller’s super-sized truck demolished Cooper’s Honda Accord when it ran a red light at East 10th Avenue and Lincoln Street and then sideswiped a nearby TV station, just missing some station employees.

“It was only a matter of time before something like this was going to happen,” Robbins said. “It’s my job to protect the people of this community from you.”

At the time of the incident, Miller’s blood-alcohol level was 0.186 and he was traveling at speeds estimated between 45 and 55 mph, according to prosecutor Geanne Moroye. Moroye said Miller had convictions for careless driving in 1995 and 1997 and driving while ability impaired in 1998. She said he was declared a habitual traffic offender in 1999.

Cooper worked in eastern high plains well permitting. He looked forward to early retirement after 17 years with the department, according to his son Aidan Cooper, 28, and co-workers.

They said Cooper planned to live in Scotland in the summer and Spain during the winter.

Jim Cooper, the victim’s brother, told Robbins that a “crime has been committed against my brother, against his family, his co-workers and friends.”